• Get involved.
    We want your input!
    Apply for Membership and join the conversations about everything related to broadcasting.

    After we receive your registration, a moderator will review it. After your registration is approved, you will be permitted to post.
    If you use a disposable or false email address, your registration will be rejected.

    After your membership is approved, please take a minute to tell us a little bit about yourself.
    https://www.radiodiscussions.com/forums/introduce-yourself.1088/

    Thanks in advance and have fun!
    RadioDiscussions Administrators

KOMA 1976 Aircheck - Charlie Stone

B

billyg

Here's a 1976 KOMA aircheck edited from a blue Scotch "Highlander" C-60 cassette tape I found a few years back in a Goodwill store in Tyler TX. It had "KOMA" scratched in pencil on it..glad I rescued it from the trash can.

I remember a Charlie Stone who worked for several stations in Tulsa. I don't know if he's the same guy. He sounds pretty green but the commercials and promos make up for it.

There was a music part on the tape where the audio phases out and in. I wouldn't be surprised if this tape was recorded in Texas. (I cant even listen to KOKC in East Texas now with WLAC bleeding IBOC crap all over 1520) Enjoy!

http://www.divshare.com/download/2603050-b2f
 
Charlie Stone previous to this worked at KNOR in Norman, OK. For several years he was in business transporting BIG rock acts city to city by bus. He had a great time doing this! I heard him back on KOMA a few years ago and called him. We had a ball reminiscing. It seems just a few weeks later I heard he had passed away.

He was a great guy.
 
Wasn't Charlie Stone the guy that had a little brawl with the engineer at KOMA back in the 70s the first time he was a jock there (obviously after 1976 as this is an aircheck of him still working there)?

:eek:
 
I worked with Charlie Stone at KNOR in Norman and at KOMA. It sure is good to hear an aircheck from that era. I was on the air 6-10pm. Charlie passed away a few years ago.
SKIP
 
Hmmm... the brawl between a jock and the engineer happened before Ray back when John Timm was still there.
Click to expand...

I recall that it was Don Landy who was punched by John Timm. Story was that Landy was holding down the reset/plate-on button on the Continental because it kept kicking off the air. John caught him mistreating the xmtr and gave him a shot.

But, the hits just keep on coming. An engineer at KNOR supposedly took a swing at Charlie Stone while Charlie was at KNOR. Charlie didn't talk about it. The engineer did.
 
Interesting.. Thanks for the clarification. I too heard about continuously trying to plate on the transmitter when it wouldn't stay on. John Timm was appearently listening on the way in to the station getting madder and madder as he heard it go on for second and drop over and over again. One of the old guys from around that time said that the jock was basically picked up and tossed away from the transmitter by Timm.
 
One of the old guys from around that time...
Click to expand...

Ouch! That strikes close to home...of course I was just a toddler at the time...but I remember John well. He used to play "One Tin Soldier" over and over again during Sunday AM maintenance.

Old guys rock!
 
Re: Slacker "Old guys rock!"

Thank ya, sonny. But sometimes, it just stops. Then, somebody has to come give the chair another push..

Hee hee hee, schnuffle schnuffle. :D
 
Oops! Mega-apologies to Stacker ... obviously NOT Slacker.

Old guys also don't see real well.
 
Charlie never got into it with the engineer at KNOR. The engineer was Ray Paraguay (I think that's how you spell his last name) on the air he was Bill Boston, a long-hair, like the rest of us only he was from California. Much cooler and did pick up some of the most beautiful women Norman had to offer. The only thing Charlie got scolded for was leaving pot seeds under the cart machines and taking the station Winnebago out late at night into OKC.

The only run-in Don Landy had with Tim at KOMA was Tim caught him rolling a joint just minutes before getting off the air. Of course, Tim told on him and got him fired. Don never had any problems getting radio work. Don died August 1st, 1990 in Tulsa. He was my best friend and we had a lot of great times together on and off the air.
SKIP
 
The only thing Charlie got scolded for was leaving pot seeds under the cart machines and taking the station Winnebago out late at night into OKC.
Click to expand...

Well, what's a guy supposed to do with the seeds?

I'm recalling an episode at KNOR circa 1974-75'ish. The engineer at the time was a guy named Roger. Tollie Burnett was still running the station at the time.

Sorry to hear about Don. He wouldn't have been very old in 1990.

Ahh, the KNOR Winnabago...I can remember doing a remote in front of a bar on Campus Corner and trying to negotiate that thing back to Alameda after a whole lot of free beer. I made it back safe and sound and promptly locked the keys inside the thing.
 
Roger...I remember him. He was the engineer before Ray. They forced him to do sales as well. That's where he quit and put in some kind of electronics store. Don't know what ever happened to him. He was a nice guy always willing to help a jock with his headsets. Bob Waddle, the general manager who went to KTOK and Carol, can't remember her last name. I ran into her I think in 80 or 81 at WKY. And Tollie, another nice one. She and her siblings owned the station and sold out in late 75 or 76.
Stacker, if you worked at KNOR in 74/75 I must have worked with you. You probably remember people like Steve Bridgewater (steve West) who would hire you in the morning and fire you in the afternoon, he needed medication...Tim Granahan (news guy) Ron Travis...Charlie Cusack...Steve Cassidy and maybe me Skip Edwards. Cassidy and I quit on the same day. He went to KRAV in Tulsa where Phil Hall was the PD and I went to KOMA where Tom Birch was the man. Charlie and Ron soon followed. KNOR had a lot of people go through the door. It was well hidden behind all the 30 foot cedar tree. A truly fun station to work at.
 
OKCRadioGuy said:
Interesting.. Thanks for the clarification. I too heard about continuously trying to plate on the transmitter when it wouldn't stay on. John Timm was appearently listening on the way in to the station getting madder and madder as he heard it go on for second and drop over and over again. One of the old guys from around that time said that the jock was basically picked up and tossed away from the transmitter by Timm.
Click to expand...


Charlie Stone wasn't as "green" as you think he was. His voice just didn't have a great range but the cat 'had the rap' and he sounded pretty good doin' it. I worked with Ray Klotz. One of the easiest going people I ever worked with and one damned fine engineer. I never met this Timm fellow but then again I never worked in the City. In '76 he wouldn't have wanted to try laying his hands on me. You can yell at me all you want, but if you touch me with evil intent I'll staple your hat to your head.
 
Those of you who've worked in Oklahoma City over the years will remeber the name David Bennett. He was like guy in most markets who recorded hours and hours of airchecks at home. I first met him when I joined KOMA in Setember 1988. Dave Martin and I explained to kent Jones what KOMA did back in the mid and late 60's. One day David called the request line and in the course of our conversation told me he had airchecks of KOMA from that time period. I began trading blank cassettes for dubs from his collection. Last February, he passed away. Kent called me with the news and date and time of his funeral. I couldn't attend because of a conflict with an OU basketball game. A week later, Kent asked me if the Oklahoma Historical Society would be interested in David's collection. We had already begun work on the Rock n Roll exhibit that opens this May, so I told Kent to have David's brother call me and we'd love to have the collection. Long story short...when we picked up the tapes, the collection consisted of about 10,000 cassettes and around 5,000 5-inch and 7-inch reels. Besides recording OKC stations, he also had some tapes of stations in Tulsa, Lawton, Enid, and other Oklahoma markets. We are still inventorying the collection, but some will be heard in the "Rock n Roll Radio" part of the exhibit.

Several radio people here in OKC, Mike Munday, for example have asked me about David's collection, and what happened to it. I am happy to report that the tapes are in our temperture and humidity controled film and video vault in the basement of the history center. Some day we hope to make the complete collection available for listening, but the size and scope of it combined with our very small staff means it will be some time before we even know what all is in it. David very carefully labeled every tape with the name of the jock, station, date and time, and weather conditions at that time.

By the way, I really enjoy reading this board.

Michael
 
Wow. I am so happy to hear that Bennett's airchecks made it safe and sound to somewhere they will be cared for and appriciated. I was concerned that whomever was left with the tapes would simply throw them out. I am quite sure that David would absolutely approve of his life's work going to a place it could be preserved for all to hear. I'm looking foward to the exibit! Thanks Mike!
 
Status
This thread has been closed due to inactivity. You can create a new thread to discuss this topic.


Back
Top Bottom